Fabrication of upper and lower anterior dental restorations requires careful measurement of numerous dimensions of the patients physical jaw and oral cavity in order to construct upper and lower restorations so that their relative positions in the patient's oral cavity restore a natural occlusion. The known techniques typically include establishing specific reference locations relative to the positions of the teeth in the upper and lower jaws. These reference locations establish exact positions of patterns for replacing natural teeth with anterior dental restorations.
Many of the devices of the prior art are overly complex, expensive, and/or cumbersome to use. A further shortcoming of the prior art is the lack of a reliable yet simple mechanism for ascertaining the anterior midline and incisal edge position of the patient with respect to the patient's bite registration. Such measurement information can be used by a lab technician to precisely align the anterior restorations to the exact specifications of the dentist. A measuring device useful in obtaining such dimensions that is disposable yet inexpensive so that the cost thereof is readily borne by each patient would serve to enhance the ability to establish a permanent record of such critical dimensions useful in fabricating dental restorations. Further, a device that is capable of obtaining midline and incisal edge position measurements relative to bite registration is needed. Such measurement data along with the patient's models and impressions can be used by a lab technician to precisely align the anterior restorations to the exact specifications of the dentist.